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Thomas McLachin
Thomas McLachin would begin his life in the Detroit Wasteland as the son of a pair of nomadic scrap traders living in the remains of Detroit. He would grow up in the squalor and danger of an uncivilized Detroit and would witness the massive influx of people in the 2120s and 2130s. He would profit off of this influx in both money and skills by doing a variety of jobs available to those who were willing to do them. After the death of his last close family member in 2140, he spent the next year simply drifting through life. He would eventually be spurred to travel southwards and settle in the Charleston Wasteland. History Thomas McLachin would be born to Edgar and Beth McLachin in a moderately sized nomad camp on the outskirts of Detroit. His mother would not survive his birth and would be buried by his father on the banks of the Detroit River, a simple rock pile with a flat face towards Windsor. Edgar McLachin would raise his son to the best of his ability. He would teach him how to fire a rifle, how to identify good salvage, and to be wary of other people. These teachings would stick with McLachin into his youth when he could finally join his father in scavenging Detroit. It was here that McLachin quickly learned that he was no good with a rifle and found scavenging entirely unappealing. The endeavour would not be a complete loss as the young Thomas began collecting postcards he found in the rubble. Despite his distaste for scavenging, his keen eyes would land him and his father valuable hauls of scrap. It is during this time too that Thomas' wariness of strangers was reinforced as on more than one occasion the hard-earned scrap his father and him collected would be extorted out of them by a group of better-armed drifters. McLachin would survive these tough conditions and would soon witness the rush of people back into the Detroit Wasteland in the 2120s and 2130s. The pair would join the settlers in Park Lane in 2125 where the elderly Edgar McLachin would begin to exhibit signs of radiation poisoning. He would eventually become incapable of traveling the wastes. This would leave Thomas to both fend for himself and support his father, so, at the age of 16 Thomas would set out on his first solo expedition into Detroit. Initially, his trips into the wastes by himself would yield very little results. Like any young man thrust into a similar position, he was consumed with a fear of death. Slowly, he grew bolder as his fear began to fade. Eventually, he began to turn profits with his expeditions and regularly traded in Park Lane. Eventually, at the age of 26, Thomas would take a more active role in the defense of the settlement. He would practice more often with his rifle on wild animals and feral ghouls which strayed too close to the settlement. Through this practice, he would improve his marksmanship but would not become a noteworthy shooter. In 2140 his father would succumb to old age and multiple small tumours, Thomas would become very distraught over his father's death and for a short time drifted between settlements in the Detroit Wasteland. It was after getting in a brawl outside of the fledgling Arsetown that McLachin would decide upon a new purpose for his life. After being beaten to the ground in a brawl, he would notice a postcard sticking out of the ground. He pulled it out to reveal a postcard from Charleston, South Carolina. The next day, he gathered his supplies and equipment and headed southeast deciding that dying on some hairbrained journey south was better than staying in Detroit. He would arrive in West Virginia before traveling east again to North Carolina. He would skirt past Richmond and Norfolk before entering a settlement by the name of Elizabeth City. Despite the destruction of three decades prior, McLachin would be impressed with how "pre-war" the city looked compared to everything around it. However, he would soon be forced to leave the city as his mannerisms and unkempt appearance began to attract undue attention. He would arrive in the settlement of Barefoot Landing in 2143 and briefly participate in the clearing out of Mirelurk dens in the region. He would use this as an excuse to become familiar with the local wildlife, expecting that his destination would be similar. He did not stay long before leaving again and arriving in King Street in the Winter of 2144. The Winter of 44' Thomas would arrive in King Street in the Winter of 44, a particularly hard winter which would prove particularly rough for the people of the settlement. Thomas would remain in the settlement during this time with his experience in the wastes and the winters of the Detroit Wasteland would be put to good use. McLachin would first organize a volunteer militia which would later become the King Street Militia. These volunteers would assist McLachin throughout the winter as he brought food and defended the settlement from raiders. It is only during this time that McLachin would truly begin to take a shine to his rifle in hunting the mutated birds of the Charleston Wasteland. By the end of the winter, Thomas McLachin would be cemented in the minds of the people of King Street as a hero. Though he wouldn't receive any formal award and would never run to become the mayor of King Street. He would enjoy a more comfortable lifestyle so long as he remained there. He would settle in King Street that Spring through renovating a small two-story building into his home and office. Thomas would partake in a wide variety of jobs and hobbies until the arrival of Marcus Clay in 2165. "The Quiet Years" From 2145 to 2165, Thomas would operate out of King Street in his two-story apartment-office. He would replace his old rifle with a more well-maintained one in the King Street Market. He would become closely acquainted with the wasteland wildlife and the culture of the region. He would learn to read in write in both English and Geechee. He would begin to practice art and would sketch, then draw, then paint the world around him. He would scavenge books and paintings to keep in his home. He would begin to read the collection he amassed with any book being as good as the next so long as it held real information. In 2157, he would write a series of memoirs about his life in the Detroit Wasteland. He would add the book to his personal library alongside other attempts at writing. The Charleston Expedition McLachin would meet the young Marcus Clay and his crew of scavengers when they arrived in the settlement of King Street after defusing a tense situation at the gate which had led to a brief exchange of fire between the settlement militia and the scavengers. He would share the legends of the Charleston Wasteland with Clay. Clay would follow one such legend of an atomic power school in Goose Creek. The expedition that resulted would be a resounding success, despite the interference of the Goose Creek Gulpers. Clay would return to King Street an immediately seek out McLachin as his crew offloaded their scavenged goods. Clay's enthusiasm would not surprise McLachin as he did not expect anyone to enjoy scavenging to the degree the young man exhibited. Clay offered to hire McLachin on the spot and asked him to tell him the biggest legend he had ever heard about the Charleston Wasteland. The still reluctant McLachin accepted the job and told Clay what he had learned about the armoury hidden somewhere within the Bastion. The place was so big and full of critters that not even raiders had bothered with the legend. Clay would be convinced and readied the crew right away, McLachin included. They would enter the Bastion through Summerall Gate after a brief fight with feral ghouls outside Lesesne Gate which spilled over into Hampton Park. They would begin searching for the armory, scouring the campus in small parties. Clay would be the first to locate the entrance to the armoury, located behind Jenkins Hall there would be a passage underground. At the end of the passage was a large, metal door. They would crack open the armoury to find it filled with dozens of feral ghouls. After a long confrontation, they would enter the armoury for the second time. A brief firefight would occur after the discovery of an armed ghoul deep within the facility. After the fight, they would interrogate the ghoul who was of surprisingly sound mind after the nearly one hundred years locked underground. The ghoul, calling himself Green, would prattle on about the Bastion in its glory days and about the war. How they'd locked themselves down there waiting of the US Army to arrive. Some of the Cadets had left but others still remained either succumbing to radiation or transforming into the ghouls they discovered. Green, after being told about the world above, would ask if he could be allowed to leave in peace. He would take with him one of the many rifles from within the armoury and leave soon after. His stories about the pre-war Bastion would leave an impact on McLachin, now seeing both the means and the cause which could create lasting peace in the Charleston Wasteland. Worrying that news of their expedition would spread quickly, McLachin would volunteer to gather the King Street Militia. Clay would agree and McLachin would set off almost immediately. Upon his return, he would find the Bastion besieged by raiders from Sky's Rangers. They caught the raiders in a pincer and forced them to retreat. Things would briefly settle down before the Bastion and King Street would be swamped with settlers from across the Lowcountry, searching for someplace safe. McLachin would aid the overwhelmed Clay and plant the seeds for the vision of the future he had received within the underground armoury. The Battle of Charleston Thomas McLachin would be at the right hand of Marcus Clay during the Battle of Charleston. He would lead the first strike of the war on Patriot's Point and have the charges planted which sank the USS Yorktown. He would fight alongside Marcus Clay at the Bastion until being ordered to relieve King Street. He would later regret having been sent due to the injuries Marcus Clay would receive in his absence. After the initial battles, he would lead bands of Brigadiers in cleaning up stragglers across the peninsula. He would be placed in charge of the training of new recruits from that point on and would become responsible for many of the traditions of the Brigadiers which he would base upon old books about the pre-war institution. 2168-2176 Thomas would spend the years leading up to his disappearance forging the image of the Brigadiers in the Charleston Wasteland. He would receive several nicknames from Cadets during his time with the Brigadiers with the most long-lasting nickname, "the Bear," being in reference to his origin in the state of Michigan and the tough exterior he presented to Cadets. However, he would retain his love of reading, writing, and collecting from earlier years and would frequently practice in his free time. He would write new editions of the Blue Book and the White Book, the two regulatory books of the pre-war Bastion. He would also release several volumes on the Charleston Wasteland and rewrite his memoir book for others to read. Disappearance Thomas would mysteriously disappear one day in 2176. A sign saying "Gone Fishin" would be posted on his office door as the only evidence available to the Brigadiers as to his whereabouts. Several attempts would be made to find him but would not yield any significant results. An empty casket funeral would be held in Summerall Chapel in 2177, one year after his disappearance. Category:Characters Category:South Carolina